Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame Redevelopment

The Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach is Australia’s premier outback heritage institution. Art Processors led the redevelopment of its galleries to create a bold experience that captures the imagination of travellers seeking an authentic and meaningful outback experience.

We unearthed lost and forgotten stories to sit alongside the museum's existing curatorial offerings. An important goal was to provide a multiplicity of viewpoints—men’s, women’s, First Nations people, different skill sets, different classes, different roles in a droving team, and the animals themselves. Most of all, we looked for stories that would resonate with all Australians, no matter their background.

Over the two-year project, we delivered an end-to-end creative and digital transformation of the museum. This included many different interactive components, ranging from large-scale immersive activations to smaller touch-screen interfaces.

The centrepiece is The Hugh, an immersive audio experience named for artist Hugh Sawrey who founded the Hall with the vision to give voice to the pioneers of the outback. The Hugh guides visitors through the galleries with multifaceted narratives as a soundtrack to the exhibits. Visitors can select which stories they want to hear or simply enjoy the original musical score created in partnership with award-winning artists Fanny Lumsden and William Barton. Children have their own audio experience, ‘The Coil’, a fast-paced treasure hunt led by an interactive digital kelpie.

Visitors are met at the 'Welcome Station' by a virtual drover and his kelpies. Motion-controlled activation and a spatial soundscape put visitors inside an interactive scene from an outback station and has the friendly kelpies racing after their every movement. It’s a living soundscape, mixed so that the sounds heard on a cattle station intermingle with those heard daily in Longreach.

At the ‘Outback Cinema’ visitors can view films about outback life. A step beyond traditional time-based media displays, it empowers the audience to fully control the films they choose to watch with audio synchronised directly to their headphones and the option for multiple people to watch different films at the same time.

The new galleries receive consistently high Google and Trip Advisor ratings from the people who matter - the visitors.